China's Foldable Phone Market Growth Slows, Huawei Remains Leader

China's Foldable Phone Market Growth Slows, Huawei Remains LeaderThe latest quarterly mobile phone tracker report from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that China's foldable phone shipments reached 2.23 million units in the third quarter of 2024

China's Foldable Phone Market Growth Slows, Huawei Remains Leader

The latest quarterly mobile phone tracker report from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that China's foldable phone shipments reached 2.23 million units in the third quarter of 2024. While still showing year-over-year growth, the pace of growth has significantly slowed compared to the previous eight quarters. The report mentions that since their introduction in 2019, foldable phones, despite five years of rapid development, still have a market penetration rate of only 3.2% (first three quarters of 2024).

The top eight players in China's foldable phone market share in the third quarter of 2024 are Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Samsung, vivo, OPPO, Lenovo, and ZTE. Huawei continues to dominate with a 41.0% market share, opening a new track with its newly launched tri-folding products. Honor foldable phones rank second with a 21.9% share, taking second and third place in the horizontal and vertical folding product markets respectively. With the success of its new MixFlip product line, Xiaomi has entered the top three of the foldable phone market for the first time since the second quarter of 2021. Samsung, with the launch of its new generation of products, increased its market share to 7.7%, ranking fourth. vivo, with only one foldable phone product line, remains in fifth place, and still ranks third in the horizontal folding product market.

IDC analysts believe that the slowdown in China's foldable phone market growth is mainly driven by the following factors:

• High prices: Foldable phone prices are generally higher than those of ordinary smartphones. Although prices have dropped in recent years, they are still difficult for mass consumers to accept.

• Immature technology: The technology of foldable phones is still under development, with problems such as easy screen damage, insufficient battery life, and excessive weight.

• Limited application scenarios: Foldable phone applications are relatively limited and currently mainly concentrated in high-end business, entertainment, and other areas. They have not yet been popularized in more fields.

Despite these challenges, the foldable phone market has enormous potential. In the future, as technology advances, costs decline, and application scenarios expand, foldable phones are expected to see renewed growth.

The report also points out that the future foldable phone market will see the following trends:

• More diverse product forms: More types of foldable phones will appear in the future, such as tri-folding, four-folding, and even more folding forms.

• More affordable prices: As technology matures and costs decline, foldable phones will become more affordable, attracting more consumers.

• More abundant application scenarios: Foldable phones will be applied in more fields, such as office, education, and healthcare.

Overall, the development prospects of China's foldable phone market remain optimistic, and the future will see new breakthroughs.